


Stay True To Your Heart

by tabbytabbytabby



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Bullying, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Good Boyfriend Theo Raeken, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Minor, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-13 15:15:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18034130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tabbytabbytabby/pseuds/tabbytabbytabby
Summary: Liam is in a bad place, and reading things people have said about him online just makes it worse. Luckily Theo is there to help.





	Stay True To Your Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Regarding the suicidal thoughts tag: It's brief around the third paragraph, and not in any great detail. But I wanted to put a warning just in case.

_“Liam is such an asshole”_

_“Can you believe what he said?”_

_“He’s so egotistical and selfish.”_

_“He only cares about himself.”_

_“I wish he would just leave.”_

_“We’d be happier here without him.”_

 

Liam takes a deep breath and closes his computer. He curls himself around his pillow and feels hot tears start to spill down his cheeks. He doesn’t know when things got so bad. They were going fine. Great even. But now suddenly everything has been turned on its head.

He knows he hasn’t been the best lately. His depression has been worse than he ever remembers it being. All the pressure from school and then home and now online have just been eating away at him. He feels like a shell of himself.

He’s been trying so hard though. _So hard_. And nothing seems to matter. It’s like everything he says is wrong anymore, and he doesn’t know how to fix it. The darker part of his brain tells him he does know how. That maybe it would be better if he just wasn’t around.

But he tries to push it away. He’s not going there. Not now. Not ever. Despite what his brain wants to tell him, he knows better. He knows he has people that do care about him.

He takes another deep breath and opens his text messages. He has one from Theo that was sent ten minutes ago asking if he’s okay. He hasn’t found a good way to answer that.

He turns his phone off, and puts it on the nightstand before turning away from it. He doesn’t need to be on it right now anyway.

A few minutes later he hears a knock on his door, then footsteps on the stairs. They stop outside his room. He doesn’t have to turn around to know it’s Theo. The bed dips, and then there’s a hand on his shoulder.

“Liam,” Theo says softly. “Are you okay?”

Liam shakes his head, “No.”

“Can you look at me?”

Liam wants to tell him no, but he knows if he does Theo will just come around to the other side of the bed anyway. So he rolls onto his back, keeping his eyes on the ceiling.

“You can’t let what they say get to you,” Theo tells him.

“It’s hard,” Liam admits. He’s not the least bit surprised Theo knows what’s going on. Mason probably told him. He’d been the one to tell Liam what people were saying about him in the first place. “Everyone hates me now.”

“They don’t hate you. They’re just upset,” Theo says, running a hand through Liam’s hair. “It’s because you’re nice. People have all these unrealistic expectations of you. I think they just forget you’re human and you do make mistakes like everyone else. So the moment you slip up, it’s the end of the world. And suddenly you’re this horrible person.”

Liam sighs, “Basically this is telling me I should just be an asshole if that’s how people are going to see me.”

“You shouldn't be.  You can't stop irrational people from being irrational. And you can't change who you are. You shouldn’t. Because who you are is amazing, Liam. Nothing anyone says is going to change that. All you can do is get up and pull yourself together. Keep living and being you. Stay true to your heart, because you have a great one. One of the biggest I’ve ever seen.”

Liam looks up at him. He wipes his eyes and sits up so that he’s facing Theo. “You’re pretty great yourself.”

“I know,” Theo says. He grins at him, and brushes the hair back from Liam’s face. “But I wasn’t talking about me. We’re talking about you.”

“Yeah well, maybe we should stop talking about me. I wouldn’t want to be selfish.”

Theo sighs, “Liam, please tell me I didn’t give that big heartfelt speech for you to miss my point completely.”

“No, I got it,” Liam tells him. He wraps his arms around Theo’s middle and rests his head on his chest. “I think I’m going to take a break from the internet for a while, and just focus on what’s important.”

“Which is?”

“Myself,” Liam says. “As _egotistical_ as that might be. I haven’t been in the best place these past few months, and I need to work on that.”

“It’s not selfish to want to be better, Liam. And if anyone tries to tell you otherwise I’ll fly to wherever they are and knock them out.”

Liam laughs, “You’d be spending a lot of money on flights.”

Theo sighs, and tightens his arms around Liam, pulling him closer. “It’d be worth it. I’d do anything for you, Liam Dunbar. Even punch internet trolls.”

“If I were them I’d be afraid right now,” Liam says, only half joking. He knows how scary Theo can be when he’s angry.

“They should be,” Theo agrees. “Because anyone that messes with my boyfriend and thinks it’s okay to keep kicking someone when they’re down deserves a little bit of pain.”

“My hero.”

“Don’t you forget it,” Theo says. He pulls back, and tips Liam’s chin up before pressing his lips against Liam’s in a soft kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Liam tells him. “Can we just hang out and watch Netflix?”

“I thought you were done with the internet?”

“Netflix doesn’t count, obviously.”

Theo laughs and kisses him again, “Of course we can.”

They curl up together on the bed, with Liam held snuggly in Theo’s arms. Theo puts on _One Day at a Time_ , and Liam smiles. If he’s going to cry, at least it’s going to be for a good reason. Liam feels himself relax. He knows things aren’t going to instantly be better. He can’t expect them to be. But they’ll get there. He has to believe that.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos/Comments make my day. ♥  
> [My tumblr](http://tabbytabbytabby.tumblr.com/)


End file.
